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BEAUTY
NAIL LAMPS GO HIGH TECH.
HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST LAMP! By Lauren Burton
There is such a huge science and chemistry behind nails, it really is not just a case of making pretty nails. Let’s talk about UV/LED nail lamps. This is an article is based on facts from leading industry scientist Doug Schoon. Look him up! So, nail salons use UV nail lamps to cure gel-based products i.e hard gels, polygel, gel polish and the newest addition to the extension family soft gel tips. There are so many different brands of gel polish, hard gel and polygel type products it’s hard to know the difference. One key component here is that a UV lamp is needed to cure them. The problem is not just any old UV/led lamp will cure every gel. FACT.
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Beauty Biz Year 14 Issue 5
The ingredients, quality of ingredients and quantity of each ingredient will change from brand to brand which will affect how they are cured, which is why using the correct lamp as per manufacturers instructions is crucial to ensure the product is fully cured. Gel-based products contain something called photoinitiators which react with the UV light the lamps produce to set the gel products, without photoinitiators, the gels will NOT cure. Using a combination of a set frequency wavelength
produced within the UV spectrum (known as nanometres) and UV illuminance specified to the specific brand products is what cures the products. It has nothing to do with the wattage of the lamp, as that is just the amount of electricity needed to power the lamp. You could get 10 different 36w UV lamps and the colour and brightness will differ in a lot of them even though they are all 36w, this shows the difference in UV illuminance. LED UV lights are now the main focus in the market of nail lamps. This is still a UV light, it is the bulb that is different, LED is a light-
